Quips and Quotes: Flames beat Devils 9-4

The Calgary Flames beat the New Jersey Devils by a 9-4 score on Tuesday night. Here are selected reactions from players and coaches following the game.

The first line scored a lot

You could be forgiven if you had concerns about the top line’s offensive production of late. Functionally speaking, the Flames had been propped up by some nice production from their bottom six and last game a big night from Mikael Backlund’s line.

Well, the first line seems to be back. Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm combined for 14 points and scored five goals en route to a Flames victory. Gaudreau had six points on his own, four of them in the third period to tie a franchise record.

“Some guys had some noticeable jump early in the game,” said Flames head coach Bill Peters. “Johnny skated real well. He skated real well against Vegas. If I remember he had nine or ten shots against Vegas. He had some opportunities tonight that found a way to go in. I thought the goal on the penalty shot was big, for him and for us, so that was a good sign.”

Derek Ryan on Gaudreau “What do you want me to say, he’s one of the best players in the league and when you’re on a 2-on-1 with him, I was just trying not to mess it up.” Ryan was the recipient of an easy tap in tonight… from Gaudreau. 9-4 #Flames final

A shaky defensive effort through 40 minutes

Lost a bit in all the hoopla regarding the six goal third period was the fact that the Flames were trailing after 40 minutes. Peters was fairly candid about the team’s defensive effort in the contest.

We were loose. We gave up some odd man rushes. Even in the third there were a couple plays that we have to tighten up on those types of things. They work hard. That’s an aggressive team that works hard. They had their forecheck going early. We got a little better with doing some things to negate that, but that’s an honest, hard-working team.

Peters shortens the bench in third

As is tradition, Peters shortened the bench in the third period. Andrew Mangiapane got zero shifts, Garnet Hathaway had two and Mark Jankowski had five – and those were due to Monahan’s brief absence for a concussion evaluation.

Having been born and raised in the NYC metro area, with a mom from Phully, Salem NJ is actually closer to Delaware, than Philly. It’s south of Philly, so, Yes, Gaudreau, like my cousins in Sea Isle City, NJ, would be a Flyers fan who would probably loathe the Devils.

Missed the game. Turned off the computer when we were down 2-1 to get a nap. Up late, working now. Good to see us get some goals. As for Rittich, he just had, what, 34 – or was it 36 saves – his last game, and now he’s once again ready to be punted, along w/Smith? We have to trust and ride these two, until the end of the season. I trust them both, right now. Makes life, as a fan, easier.

Goaltending was always going to be an issue for this team, but some perspective seems warranted. The team in front has been very leaky defensively lately, but Rittich himself has still been ~league average over the season. He only has 53 career NHL starts to his name, so we are only really beginning to learn what Rittich is as a goalie at this level. He has saved Calgary more games than he’s cost them, and that is really all we can expect. We’ll have to see how it goes, but people seem to forget that:

1) San Jose has Martin Jones/Aaron Dell, who have been WORSE than Rittich/Smith this year
2) Vegas has MAF, who’s only been marginally better than Rittich, and could turn into a pumpkin at any time. He could turn into 2017-2018 Fleury too, but Rittich could also revert to his earlier season performance.

That’s why I am not super worried about the goaltending… this year. But I am curious how Treliving will address it in the offseason.

BSD in net for two big wins…his save % went down and his GAA went up…just sayin. Is the previous the result of defensive zone play? Brodie and Gio on the ice for 6 of the last 7 goals against…just sayin. Again, I defer to Bill Peters with regards to loose zone play. This team needs to clean things up. Gaudreau was amazing, on the Ryan tap in goal reminded me of the Forsberg goal against Calgary years ago. It’s Johnny’s world, we just live in it! If we get to a point where we know we can’t change our position in the standings, maybe give Gio a rest and Brodie can join him, feed him popcorn, see if he can do that without a giveaway.

I am having a hard time defending Janko after that game. Ryan is more deserving to play 3C until Janko finds his game. I am luke warm on Rittich lately. I realize he did not have much support but he has to make a big save at some point. I am leaning towards riding Smith into the playoffs and I can’tbelieve I said that. I was even considering swapping him with Gillies for a few games.

Janko as the #1 center on the PK is not flashy but don’t underestimate the importance of his roll on the team and he did an amazing job at it again tonight, he helped eat up almost 40sec of NJ PP by himself up the middle. Yes he had a clearing attempt cut off and a fluke (or very skilled goal depending on how you want to look at it) goal against go in as a result, but what should have he done? up the middle-Nope, where were his teammates for D-Zone Support in that situation? I also noticed Janko skating harder and making some hits to get the puck out of the D-Zone tonight… That is a very good sign!
Ryan had a good game, but a fluky goal and getting to play with Johnny was a bonus and turned out well. I really think Ryan is in his comfort zone as #4C and likes his roll there so why mess with the 4th lines success?
Gillies struggles to have any good game consistency at the AHL Level so… ???
How many games into riding Smith into the playoffs would that plan flop? 2-?, 3-? … Neither of the Flames goalies are lights out over the past month but neither has the Flames D-Zone game and that has had a bigger impact on the goals against than either Rittich or even Smith. Besides, I’m done with watching Smith get the primary asst on a goal against plus one(or 2) weak goal(s) a game guaranteed. I’m still hoping Smith can bounce back and be a surprise in the playoffs if need be, but that’s as far as I’d go with him right now.

Flames have lost twice scoring 4 goals in a game this year. They are 3-0 when Benny, Chucky, Johnny and Mony all score. Well we are 8-1-2 in games when Benny scores anyways. Kind of hard to believe they all scored in the same game 3 times this season.